Gatesville council backs $274,850 sports complex lighting project

Gatesville is moving ahead with a $274,850 lighting upgrade at the Gatesville Sports Complex, a project that will put new lights over the Jaycee and HEB baseball fields and cut the city’s share to $137,425. City council authorized the city manager to move forward with the contract after hearing that the project had already won a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department 50/50 matching grant in January 2026.

Deputy City Manager Mike Halsema told council the quote from Musco Sports Lighting came in at $274,850, setting the price for the next stage of work at the ballfields. The grant structure means the state match covers half the cost, while Gatesville pays the other half, a local investment aimed at improving one of the city’s most visible recreation sites.

The decision came during the council’s regular June 9 meeting at 110 N. 8th Street, where the agenda and packet had been posted online in advance. Council also approved the minutes from its May 12 regular meeting, a routine step that confirmed the board was moving through several items tied to city operations and long-range planning.

Parks and recreation kept showing up throughout the meeting and in the city’s recent planning work. The council packet included discussion of continuing the Intergovernmental Support Agreement between the City of Gatesville and the North Fort Hood Recreation Center, another sign that the city is keeping an eye on shared recreation use and military-community ties. The sports complex lighting project also fits into a broader push that surfaced in the May 30 budget retreat, where staff identified the parks master plan and downtown planning as priorities heading into the 2026-2027 fiscal year.

The June 9 meeting also sat alongside other city projects, including talk of a sewer job off Highway 36 and support for using hotel occupancy tax money for athletic fields. But the lighting contract stands out because it has a direct, near-term effect on how Gatesville families use the sports complex: brighter fields, longer usable hours and a clearer path for games, practices and weekend play.